From Jeanette 4/30: First of all I have to apologize to everyone for slacking here on my blog. I have not written anything in a while even though there is so much that has happened.

Meanwhile I was on vacation in sunny Florida and I was given the challenge of training while being on vacation. I have to say this is probably the first time that I have kept to a routine during a getaway. It was not always easy to keep track on everything and renting a bike is also not possible just anywhere. Since I did not rent a bike and also did not bring my bike along with me I focused more on my running and swimming. This worked out very well and I was able to work out five out of seven days. I was actually very surprised with myself that I stuck to my routine and made it possible to keep training.

The weather in Florida was also much nicer and running outdoors made things much easier. It was nice to run along a nice beach, not being cold and seeing great nature and landscape. Regardless of the good time I had I still somehow missed my bike and also my daily routine at home. Even now writing it down shows me how much I already have changed. I am more focused on my goal and reaching it.

Coming back from vacation I had one week without any training on my bike and I was able to experience this the hard way. I am really struggling with hill workouts and staying consistent in my paddling. From when I came back from vacation till today I have my days where I get frustrated because I think I am not able to do it but then I have to look back and tell myself that I can and that three months ago I was not even able to bike longer than an hour and a half. It is all about the experience, the consistency of the workouts and training, training, training.

In just one month Mark and I will be attending our first half Ironman with Rev 3 and I am scared, excited and just looking forward to the experience.

5/20 From Mark:

Today was my first long ride in a windswept rain. Fortunately the temps were in the low 60's so it wasn't too bad. I was scheduled for a 4 hour ride. However, had to cut it down to about 2.5 hours for a few reasons. The biggest reason was that my right toes and mid-foot were soaked to the bone and had essentially gone numb on me. In addition, as the rain continued to get heavier the ponding on the roads brought on potential hydroplaning. Not to  mention the low visibility and trying to keep my glasses wiped. I think it was a good overall to experience this in the event i ever have to deal with it on a race day. Glad i sucked it up and went out :)